With help from incubators, venture capitalists and nonprofits, Ohio's smaller cities -- including Dayton, Youngstown and Athens -- are fast becoming centers for new ideas and innovation outside of the big 3C cities.

“Cities are back, downtowns are back, and the places that we call anchor districts are leveraging growth in cities,” says Chris Ronayne of UCI. In Cleveland and beyond, stakeholders like universities, hospitals and museums ('eds and meds') are leading the way in reshaping cities into vibrant, livable places.